In
a rerun of what happened two
years agowhen
in April 2014 a Russian Su-24 fighter jet flew repeatedly within 1000
yards of a US warship, CNN
reports that the Pentagon is furiousthat
while sailing in the Baltic Sea, US warship the USS Donald Cook had
two "extremely
close overflights" by unarmed Russian fighter jets.

According
to the initial reports, two concerning encounters occurred Tuesday
night in international waters. A third overflight, at a more
acceptable distance, happened Sunday, according to the source.

CNN
adds that the ship, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer,
also had a Polish helicopter on board as part of routine training,
according to the official, leading to some speculation in military
circles that the Russians were also "sending
a message to Poland,"
the official said.

Navy
officials are not commenting publicly, but inside the Pentagon there
is an intense discussion about releasing video and still photos of
the Russian encounter to demonstrate the danger the jets posed to the
ship, a U.S. official told CNN.

A
U.S. official described the Russian maneuver as "strafing runs"
without firing any weapons. The
unarmed Russian aircraft swooped in over the deck in the same flight
profile that would have been used if an attack was underway.

A
second U.S. defense official told CNN that the overflights were
conducted by a Russian SU-24 and helicopter. Flight operations by the
Polish helicopter were interrupted because one of the overflight was
so close.

EUCOM
added some additional details moments ago:

On
April 12, while Donald Cook was operating in international waters in
the Baltic Sea, a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter conducted circles at
low altitude around the ship, seven in total, at approximately 5 p.m.
local. The helicopter passes were also deemed unsafe and
unprofessional by the ship's commanding officer. About 40 minutes
following the interaction with the Russian helicopter, two Russian
SU-24 jets made numerous close-range and low altitude passes, 11 in
total.

CNN
reports that the Cook had been shadowed by a Russian
intelligence-gathering ship for some time before the aircraft
encounter. The U.S. crew had radioed the Russian ship that it was
conducting routine operations, according to the official.

The
Pentagon is livid because while there have been encounters between US
ships and aircraft and Russian counterparts, this time Russia appears
to have gone too far according to CNN sources.

STUTTGART,
GERMANY - A United States Navy Destroyer operating in international
waters in the Baltic Sea experienced several close interactions by
Russian aircraft on April 11 and 12. USS Donald Cook (DDG 75)
encountered multiple, aggressive flight maneuvers by Russian aircraft
that were performed within close proximity 51 155 ship.

On
April 11, Donald Cook was conducting deck landing drills with an
Allied military helicopter when two Russian SU-24 jets made numerous,
close-range and low altitude passes at approximately a p.m. local.
One of the passes, which occurred while the Allied helicopter was
refueling on the deck of Donald Cook, was deemed unsafe by the ship's
commanding officer. As a safety precaution, flight operations were
suspended until the SU-24s departed the area.

On
April 12, while Donald Cook was operating in international waters in
the Baltic Sea, a Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter conducted circles at
low altitude around the ship, seven in total, at approximately 5 p.m.
local. The
helicopter passes were also deemed unsafe and unprofessional by the
ship's commanding officer.
About 40 minutes following the interaction with the Russian
helicopter, two
Russian SU-24 jets made numerous close-range and low altitude passes,
11 in total. The
Russian aircraft flew in a simulated attack profile and failed to
respond to repeated safety advisories in both English and Russian.
USS Donald Cook's commanding officer deemed several of these
maneuvers as unsafe and unprofessional.

It
is unclear if Russia was simply, as the CNN source says, sending
Poland a message, or if the Su-24 pilots were just being friendly

As
we reported last
Friday,
a second US warship, the destroyer Donald Cook, crossed the Bosphorus
last week and entered the Black Sea at precisely the time when NATO
was arguing that its encroaching presence around Russia should not
spook anyone. Apparently it spooked someone, namely Russia, which
over the weekend decided to give the Americans a warm welcome. As AP
reports, "A
U.S. military official says a Russian fighter jet made multiple,
close-range passes near an American warship in the Black Sea for more
than 90 minutes Saturday amid escalating tensions in the region."

The
State Department acknowledged that the crew of the destroyer USS
Donald Cook has been gravely demoralized ever since their vessel was
flown over in the Black Sea by a Russian Sukhoi-24 (Su-24) fighter
jet which carried neither bombs nor missiles but only an electronic
warfare device.

On
10 April 2014, the
USS Donald Cook entered the waters of the Black Sea and
on 12 April a Russian Su-24tactical
bomber flew over the vessel triggering an incident that, according to
several media reports, completely demoralized its crew, so much so
that the Pentagon issued a protest [1].

The
US destroyer is equipped with the most recentAegis Combat System.
It is an integrated naval weapons systems which can link together the
missile defense systems of all vessels embedded within the same
network, so as to ensure the detection, tracking and destruction of
hundreds of targets at the same time. In addition, the USS
Donald Cook is equipped with 4 large radars, whose power is
comparable to that of several stations. For protection, it carries
more than fifty anti-aircraft missiles of various types.

Meanwhile,
the Russian Su-24 that
buzzed the USS
Donald Cook carried
neither bombs nor missiles but only a basket mounted under the
fuselage, which, according to the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya
Gazeta [2],
contained a Russian electronic warfare device called Khibiny.

As
the Russian jet approached the US vessel, the electronic device
disabled all radars, control circuits, systems, information
transmission, etc. on board the US destroyer. In other words, the
all-powerful Aegis system, now hooked up - or about
to be - with the defense systems installed on NATO’s most modern
ships was shut down, as turning off the TV set with the remote
control.

The
Russian Su-24 then simulated a missile attack
against the USS Donald Cook, which was left literally
deaf and blind. As if carrying out a training exercise, the Russian
aircraft - unarmed - repeated the same maneuver 12 times before
flying way.

After
that, the 4th generation destroyer immediately set sail towards a
port in Romania.

Since
that incident, which the Atlanticist media have carefully covered up
despite the widespread reactions sparked among defense industry
experts, no US ship has ever approached Russian territorial waters
again.

According
to some specialized media, 27 sailors from the USS Donald
Cook requested to be relieved from active service.

Vladimir
Balybine - director of the research center on electronic warfare and
the evaluation of so-called "visibility reduction"
techniques attached to the Russian Air Force Academy - made the
following comment:

"The
more a radio-electronic system is complex, the easier it is to
disable it through the use of electronic warfare.

A
video presentation of the US Aegis system. Currently installed on the
most sophisticated US Navy warships and in the process of being set
up throughout the entire range of NATO naval forces, this missile
defense system was completely knocked out in the Black Sea by a
Russian electronic warfare device

A
major vulnerability that allowed French submarine to “sink”
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and most of its escort during
drills was apparently revealed by the French Navy and Defense
Ministry in blogposts that were quickly wiped out.

Both
the French
Defense Ministry and
the Navy released
and then quickly deleted a news post entitled “Le
SNA Saphir en entraînement avec l’US Navy au large de la
Floride” (“The
SNA Sapphire in training with the US Navy off the coast of Florida”)
that praised the 34-year-old French nuclear submarine’s success
in “sinking” the
American aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt along with best part
of its escort